The Verdict

Barry Reed’s courtroom novel was published in 1979, and was immediately recognised as blockbuster material; stars like Cary Grant eyed a potential comeback as the alcoholic lawyer Frank Galvin, a role played by Paul Newman in an Oscar-nominated turn that really should have been a winner. A tight package was assembled around the star, with Sidney Lumet directing from a terse David Mamet script; The Verdict is old-school Hollywood caught in the act of sobering up.

Frank Galvin is past his best; the NYC lawyer is a drunken mess, who can’t even keep the shakes at bay for long enough to down a shot, and whose idea of rehab is dropping a raw egg into his glass. Galvin’s former partner Mickey (Jack Warden) drops a slam-dunk medical malpractice case in his lap; a young mother admitted to a Catholic hospital ended up in a coma, and a settlement is in the offing. But much as Elliot Ness is transformed by a mother’s request in Mamet’s script for The Untouchables, Galvin’s conscience and humanity is awakened by the case, and he resolves to fight it all the way to the verdict of the title.

‘You can’t fight City Hall,’ is the mantra of the lawyers assembled here; the odds are stacked against Galvin from the get-go. Toweringly professional defence lawyer Edward Concannon (James Mason) has a team of pros at his disposal, as well as a spy in Galvin’s camp in the form of Charlotte Rampling. “Why are you doing this?’ is the question Galvin is asked; ‘To do the right thing, isn’t that why you’re doing it?’ comes the answer, and it’s not just about money or even justice; Galvin’s redemption as a person is at stake.

The Verdict builds patiently to a finale that’s changed from the book, but still works, largely due to Newman’s untypical performance that drives the narrative beyond character study to high drama. ‘You said if not now, when.’ Galvin complains to Mickey, only for the older man to answer ‘Not now…’ Mamet’s gift for capturing the way men talk is heavily in evidence. Mamet’s unforgiving animosity towards his female characters, however, feels like a flaw from a 2022 perspective, but at least The Verdict wears its scars with some pride. The only weakness would be that Lumet’s film is not quite as good as the book it’s based on; Reed’s impeccable novel would be worth reviving today, since this powerful film is only one way through the moral labyrinth the text describes.